


The Ghost of Gottlieb Mansion

by cephalopod_groupie



Series: Newmann Tumblr Ficlets, Prompts, and AUs [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Death, Ghost!Hermann, Ghosts, Halloween, M/M, Swearing, pinkie prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-25 18:12:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2631395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cephalopod_groupie/pseuds/cephalopod_groupie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Halloween AU where Hermann is the ghost of the old Gottlieb mansion. Newton with his usual lack of self preservation visits the mansion and decides/has to stay the night. He's kinda scared but he copes with a running commentary like the ghost is real and can actually hear him. Hermann's been kind of lonely so he actually just sits around and listen to Newt prattle on. - pinkieblues</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Dare

"This is all Tendo’s fault," Newton thought to himself as he approached the semi-ruined, looming form of the old Gottlieb mansion. No one has lived in it for 100 years. And certainly no one had set foot in it for a decade or two. It looked as if it would crumble if they did.

"I should never have accepted this bet," he added under his breath. He switched on his flashlight and clutched his sleeping bag a little tighter. He took a deep breath and kicked open the door. With a creaky swing the front hallway of the mansion lay before him, lit with moonlight that spiked down from the broken ceiling. He inched forward.

"OK, I’m a scientist, so I know you’re not real," he said to any nonexistent spirit that was listening. He thought he was confident, but the sound of his own shaky voice startled him. He didn’t see the wispy white column of smoke that took the form of a man a few feet behind him.

"No funny business! I’m just here to sleep and win a bet!" The ghost rolled his eyes.

"I’m heading upstairs now!" Newton put one foot on the bottom step and it creaked like the world was coming to an end. He swore under his breath. Nearly every step did the same and when he reached the first landing his foot went through the boards. The ghost, who had been floating just behind him, melted into the wall. Newton scrambled to pull his foot out and catch his breath. Shit.

"Can’t get me that easily!" Newton yelled before continuing up the stairs. The ghost returned to follow him and Newton entered one of the bedrooms.

"I’m coming in!" Newton swept his flashlight around the room. He stopped at an old photograph. It was of a man in his 30s. Not technically classically handsome, but attractive, with a certain charm. Newton picked it up and smiled. The ghost hovered very close and looked over Newton’s shoulder. He hadn’t had the courage to look at himself in many years.

"There is some life in this house after all," Newton said to himself. The ghost held the smoke that was his tongue. As Newton turned to leave, a good portion of his body collided with the ghost’s form. Newton felt a chill like death wash over him.

"Whoa." Newton shivered. "Oh fuck, I’m gettin’ out of here." He ran downstairs at top speed, ignoring the deafening cracks that broke beneath his feet.

"I’m going into the living room now so don’t follow me!" The ghost ignored him and wafted through the wall, into the corner and out of sight. Newton poked the couch.

"There’s gotta be mice living in there. Maybe a raccoon." He threw the sleeping bag on the floor and sat on the old coffee table. He put his head in his hands. After a few minutes he felt himself dropping off but his jolted himself awake. The ghost snaked out of the shadows, just as tentative as Newton was when he entered the house. His own loneliness took over his better judgement. Interacting with humans when he was alive was not his strong point. But he was so terribly lonely. Seeing a living being again, seeing his own face again brought back the memories that had died so many years ago. And so he wafted closer…closer…to the live man in his old family home.

 _"Please don’t be afraid. I should like to converse with you."_ Newton just about jumped out of his skin, but he simply went rigid.

"OK, I know you’re a friend of Tendo’s trying to scare the crap out of me! This is not funny! I am not scared so you can stop and go the fuck home!"

 _"I am not a friend of this person who sent you here."_

Newton got up and turned to look. “OK, that’s it, you’re gonna get i–  _AHHHHHH!_ " Newton fell backwards over the table.

_"Forgive me for not introducing myself properly. Welcome to my family home."_

Newton got up and stood with his back to the window, scared out of his mind.

“It’s a projection unit of some kind, that’s all this is. Or I’m hallucinating. That’s it. It’s night, I’ve had a long day at work. Tendo told me some scary crap about this house. That’s it. It will just go away.” The ghost looked rather hurt. So much so that Newton almost said sorry.

 _"People have often said that to me."_  Newton stared, breathing shallow.

"You’re not going away."

 _"Please come closer."_  Newton paused for several seconds before taking a step forward.

 _"I see you are strong,"_  the ghost said, clearly thinking of days past,  _"I used to walk with a limp. You will see my cane in the hall if you look."_ The ghost looked, searchingly, at the man before him. A man, solid, blood, muscle, bone…all the things he used to be. Newton was beginning to see that whatever it was was not going away. In fact, he began to recognize it.

"Are you," he began, "the man in the photograph I saw upstairs?"

 _"Yes,"_  the ghost said, _“I used to be.”_  Newton dared to come even closer. The wisp before him almost glowed. He was indeed the man in the picture upstairs. And he was what he might call handsome.

"I’m sorry." The ghost almost smiled.

_"No one has ever apologized for my death."_

"What was it?"

 _"Tuberculosis. I passed away upstairs in fact."_ Newton looked a little frightened again, and swallowed hard.  _"You needn’t be afraid."_

"I-I’m not. I just…"

_"I understand. This must be difficult for you to grasp, despite your incessant jabbering to me as if you thought I was in fact a real spirit."_

"I was not jabbering!"

_"Whistling in the dark, I know. A few teenagers did the same two decades ago. I admit I did not go about introducing myself in the best way."_

"You didn’t do that tonight, either!" Newton smiled. The ghost smiled too. "What’s your name?"

_"Hermann, Hermann Gottlieb. The youngest son of the Gottliebs."_

"I’m Newt Geiszler."

_"Newton, I presume?"_

"Yeah," he said, rolling his eyes. Hermann extended a ghostly hand, his fingers once long, slender, yet strong…before the illness. Newton took it, the smoke that lingered. He gasped at the touch.

 _"I am sorry I’m rather cold."_  Newton looked into his near transparent eyes, once full of life. A minute passed. They were strangely connected and Newton almost didn’t have to ask him anything.  _"You should sleep."_  Newton was reluctant to move or sleep. But he found himself slipping into his sleeping bag. Newton watched, transfixed as Hermann hovered over him, a sort of human cloud. He felt himself drift off, lulled by the comforting glow above him.

_"Perhaps you could visit me on occasion."_

"I will." Newton smiled and shut his eyes. Hermann threaded his vaporous fingers into Newton’s dark hair until he heard nothing but Newton’s soft breathing. There was a live human in his home, not a mouse, or a squirrel, a human being with life coursing through him. A human with the fear that came with living. But how wonderful it was to see again.

 _"If there is any real danger, I shall scare it off,"_ Hermann said softly. But Newton was fast asleep.


	2. Someone Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt makes a few decisions. Hermann pretends not to be pleased about them.

Tendo stared at Newton when the latter strolled into the zoo’s administrative offices and plopped down in the opposite cube.

“Shit your pants last night, brother?” Tendo said, crossing his arms and leaning on the top of Newt’s cube.

“No, I had a nice time, actually,” Newton said calmly, looking remarkably rested for having slept in a sleeping bag on a hardwood floor.

“Uh...you got the right address, right?”

“8675 Sycamore, right?” Newt powered up his computer. 

“Yeah?” Tendo said. His eyebrows were considerably crinkled.

“Well, there ya go. You know, I thought you were gonna spy on me and make sure I stayed there.” Newt laughed. 

“No.” Tendo laughed before returning to his own cube. Newton typed in his password and sipped his coffee. He looked at his watch. 

“Ok, what the fuck happened?!” Tendo caved, peering over the cube. 

“30 seconds. Not bad, dude. You showed a lot of restraint.”

“Come on!”

“Not much. I looked around... I met someone, though.” Newt looked up at Tendo sheepishly with a little sly smile. 

“Huh?!”

“Yeah...” Newt said dreamily as he let the hot steam from the coffee envelop his face. “He’s...I can’t describe him.”

“Really? Does he crash at that run-down old place?” 

“Yup,” Newton said. And then he had a wicked thought. “Wanna meet him?”

“I guess so. You two dating now? That’s pretty fast work.”  


“We’re not going out...yet,” Newt said matter-of-factly. “Why don’t you come over to the place tonight? I’ll try to get some lights on.”

“Sure.” They both resumed work, although Newton was having a difficult time concentrating. He couldn’t stop thinking about the glowing smoke, the man, that soothed him to sleep. How, even after death, Hermann was beautiful and regal. His spirit was floating around that broken down mansion and he was all alone. About a half hour later, Newton heard Tendo get up and head to the restroom. He peeked over the side of his cube just to make sure Tendo was out of earshot. 

“All that coffee you’d think he had to use the can more often,” Newt muttered to himself as he dialed a number on his office phone. 

“Hi, I had a question about a house in the area.... Ok good, is the Gottlieb Mansion on your books?” Newton paused to listen. “Yeah, I don’t believe in those stories...yes, I am actually interested. Can I see the house this week? Thursday’s good for me....10am? Sure. See you then. Geiszler, Newton Geiszler. Yeah, thanks, Bye.” 

Later that day as the sun was beginning to set, Newton headed over to the Gottlieb Mansion.

“Hermann?” Newt called out as he set his laptop bag on the floor. He squinted in the semi-darkness of the front hallway. When his eyes became adjusted to the light, he caught a glimpse ofglowing smoke that wafted in the darkness, taking the shape of a man.

_“Hello, Geiszler.”_

“I said to call me Newt, dude.”

_“Of course, Newton.”_ Newt rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. It was quite dark because all the windows were boarded up, only a few streaks of light broke through the gaps in the two-by-fours. Hermann was still visible on the outskirts of the room. 

_“Don’t you have a home to go to?”_  

“I thought you wanted company?” Newt said, turning to Hermann as he opened a cupboard. Newt continued to riffle through the kitchen.

_“I never said explicitly that I did, but I suppose it would be nice.”_

“Good, because I was thinking about buying the house,” Newt said as he swept away some cobwebs. “Hermann?” The ghost was silent, but Newt distinctly heard a sigh. 

_“A Gottlieb has always owned this house,”_ Hermann said wistfully. His face was disappointed, serious. _“But I suppose it does need a new owner.”_

“Really?! Because, ok, I want to make this place look amazing! And I could totally restore it, keep it how you like it, like, the way is was when...” Newt stopped himself.

_“You can say ‘when I was alive’,”_ Hermann said frankly. 

“Ok,” Newt said with a relieved smile. “This house is gonna look so good when I’m done with it. You’ll love it.” Then he paused, his hands full of dust and dirt. “You sure you’re ok with this?”

_“Yes. A little reluctant perhaps, but it needs to be done.”_

Newt nodded and continued to investigate the kitchen. He stopped again, this time not looking at Hermann. He said softly, “If this house had just been left to fall to pieces what would happen to you?”

_“I’m not sure,”_ Hermann whispered. 

There was a long silence. When Newt moved again it seemed to startle them both. He coughed and started to pull apart another cupboard. Little clouds of dust blossomed around him. 

_“I suppose I would simply drift away, perhaps haunt a new building if one was erected here.”_

“Haha, you said ‘erect’,” Newt remarked. 

_“I said ‘erected.’ That’s quite different,”_ Herman corrected him. _“Are all modern people this childish?”_

“Nope, just me,” Newt said to him, grinning. 

_“And what do you do? When you’re being an adult, that is?”_

“I’m a zoologist, a cephalopod specialist, actually.” Newt replied. “What about you?”

Hermann sighed and said sadly, _“I was going to be a mathematician.”_

“Oh,” Newt said quietly, looking at the ghost, who was himself looking at the floor. He cleared his throat again as he tossed some crumbled up wallpaper into an old metal trashcan. “So, I uh, I wanted to bring a friend around here, to meet you...tonight.”

_“To parade me around the room, a freak for your little chum to see?”_ Hermann was very bitter.

“No! No, honestly, I just said I met someone special and I wanted him to meet you,” Newt said quickly. Hermann cocked an eyebrow.

_“Oh? Dare I ask what you mean by_ ‘special’ _?"_  

“Well,” Newt said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I kinda, well, I might have given Tendo the impression that I was...gonna ask you out.”

_“I beg your pardon? Do you mean to imply...a courtship?”_

“Dating, yeah.” Newt bit his lip. 

_“Geiszler, in case you haven’t noticed, let me bring it to your attention. I am not solid flesh and bone.”_

“So?”

_“Do you not see a problem?”_

“Well, it’s not ideal, but hey, it could work.” Newton said, shrugging. “And we can touch...mostly. I mean, you _were_ fondling my hair last night.”

_“I don’t know whether to be cross with you, or...be...rather delighted.”_ Hermann gave Newt a lop-sided smile. _“And I was not ‘fondling’ your hair. I may have been lightly running my fingers through it, as if one was petting a dog, but I was not fondling your very messy hair.”_

“A dog you were _dating_ maybe?” Hermann rolled his eyes. “And you were _so_ fondling my hair,” Newt added. He was just about to turn back to the cupboards but he said shyly, “...and it felt really nice, too.”

_“I’m glad.”_ Hermann floated a little higher and pretended to study the cracks in the floor. 

Newt couldn’t decide if he was adorably pompous or pompously adorable. “So, that’s kinda in the realm of ‘courtship,’ right?”

_“Perhaps.”_ Hermann floated a little closer to Newton, between the cracks of sunlight.

“Wanna have a little fun?”

_“Meaning?"_  

“I wanna scare the bejesus out of Tendo.”

_"Is that absolutely necessary?”_  

“Yup.” Newt studied an old tin can he got from the back of a cupboard. “He was gonna do the same damn thing to me.” 

_“You wicked man.”_ Hermann turned away to hide a smile. 

An hour or two later, Tendo knocked loudly on the thick and decaying wooden door. Newt practically ran to get it and pretended he didn’t. 

“Whoa, what’s with all the candles dude?” 

“Electricity is shot, obviously,” Newt said. Tendo had his hands in his pockets, trying to play cool. Unlike is usually calm persona, he was far from chill. 

“Wow, that’s a big chalkboard!” 

“Yeah, I found it in the basement,” Newt said gleefully, he said patting it proudly. “Take a seat, dude.” Tendo sat on the disaster of a couch and looked at the board that was about eight feet in front of him. He puzzled slightly. The vast black chalkboard was eaten up by the darkness of the room, so all he could see was Newt’s candlelit face and the pieces of chalk on the board’s ledge. Newton stepped away from the board and sat on an upturned crate near Tendo. Suddenly a piece of chalk began to twitch. It trailed up the black surface, leaving a thin path of white powder. Then it began to move with more purpose, forming the familiar curves of cursive letters. 

_Hello, Mr. Choi. Welcome to my home._

Tendo’s face went ashen but he pointed at Newt, who was, amazingly, keeping a steely, expressionless face. 

“OK,” Tendo said, springing up and stomped behind the chalkboards. “I wanna know how you’re doing that. Magnets or whAAAAAAAAATTTT?!” In a flash, Tendo was at the window, clutching the curtains, his mouth hanging open. Hermann floated out. 

_“How dull.”_ Hermann rolled his eyes. _“Can no one have an original reaction?”_

“How the? Newt, how are you doing that?" 

_“_ He _is not doing anything. I am, as you might say, a spirit of my former self. Hermann Gottlieb.”_

Tendo’s breathing became more relaxed. “So you’re...the son of the house? The guy who,” Tendo gulped, “died...upstairs?”

_“Yes. You know my family story well.”_  

“I know it’s a little freaky, but there’s nothing to be scared of. Hermann is awesome,” Newt assured him. “Plus he’s pretty cute.” Hermann gave him the side-eye and exhaled. Tendo relaxed his grip on the curtains and stepped forward a little. 

“Go on,” Newt encouraged. With great trepidation, Tendo extended his hand. Hermann shook it lightly, making Tendo wince from the cold. The latter pulled back almost instantly, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

“Ok well, it’s been nice meeting you, bro, but, well, it’s dark, I mean, getting late, and I should...get going.” Tendo jabbed his thumb in the direction of the door.  

“Yup, feel free. See you tomorrow!” Newton walked him to the door. Hermann followed. 

“Bye!” The door slammed and Newt burst in to laughter. “I know it was mean to scare him, but that was so much fun!” Hermann couldn’t help but chuckle a little. After Newt watched Tendo tear off in his Jeep he looked up at the moon. 

“Big moon tonight.” Hermann looked at Newt and touched the man’s cheek softly. Newt inhaled sharply but smiled warmly back at him. Moonlight bathed his face. 

_“Will you be staying the night?”_ Hermann dared himself to ask. 

“My sleeping bag and blow-up mattress are in the car.”

 


	3. The Cold and the Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newton wants to try something.

“Dude, you gotta stop playing with my hair. Takes me forever in the morning to get it looking good,” Newt said, looking into the hall mirror as he attempted to restyle the frizzled mess. 

Hermann peered around the doorway in the shadows, hiding from the dawn like a deer in the woods. His glow faded around him so only the outline of his form was visible. 

_“It always looks like a mess in any case. I don’t see why you think messing about with it and adding all that goo actually makes it look any better.”_

“You’re always grumpy when I leave in the morning.”  


_“I imagine you would be the same if you were alone for as long as I have been,”_ Hermann said, trying to remain haughty. 

“So, ugh, how would you feel if I moved into your room?”

Hermann was silent and Newt saw him look at the floor. 

_“I don’t know. Perhaps it would make you uncomfortable.”_

“Well, I mean, I would bring a new bed in, I wouldn’t sleep in the one that you...” Newt trailed off. He was always reluctant to refer Hermann’s death. 

_“Quite,”_ Hermann said. He cleared his throat. _“I suppose now would be a good a time as any to alter my room.”_

“It’s not going to like, change your...state...right?” Newt asked, suddenly worried. 

_“No, I shouldn’t think so. Things have been moved around in the room before and it never seemed to have any effect. Perhaps we should leave my old bed in there as well, just to be on the safe side....if you’re worried, that is.”_

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Newt said, sounding more reassured. “Well, I gotta go.” He looked back at Hermann. “Um, what are you going to do today?”

_“Read a book, I suppose. Even though I’ve read them all before.”_

“Hey, I can pick you up something! Want some new science or math material?”

_“Yes, that would be lovely, actually.”_

“Great! I’ll get something on my way home. See you tonight Hermann!” Newt closed the door.

_“Goodbye Newton.”_ Hermann drifted into the shadows and wafted around the house, thinking about his guest. As much as he thought him a funny man, over-the-top, eccentric, he could not help but adore his enthusiasm. 

“So, buddy, how’s life with your ghostly almost-boyfriend?”

Newton laughed, somewhat nervously. “He’s not my boyfriend, Tendo.”

“You’ve just moved in with him and you’re pining for him, sure.”

“Dude, come on.”

“Seriously though, how are you even going to kiss him.”

“Uuuuuh, gently? I don’t know! I haven’t figured it out yet. I mean, he plays with my hair every night so....yeah. I mean, we can touch...but it’s almost not touching.”

Tendo nodded. “Maybe you should try it?”

“What, kissing him? Yeah, but he’s suuuper old fashioned; I don’t want to freak him out.”

“True. Still, maybe ask him about his first kiss or something and see what happens.”

“Yeah.” Newt looked at Tendo as he walked away. He sighed and looked down at his shoes. 

The next day the mattress and bed frame arrived. Hermann went down into the basement where he kept much of his old experimental equipment. After the moving men left, Newt knocked on the door.

“They’re gone. Can I come down?”

_“Yes, you may.”_

“Cooooool. So much cool stuff!” 

Along two walls were massive chalk boards, and along the other two were bookshelves filled with many old and dusty books and various objects like abacuses and sextants. It was practically the only lived in place in the house. Now Newton knew where the stories about hearing disembodied chalking noises came from. 

_“Just bits and pieces.”_

“Really amazing stuff, dude.”

_“Thank you,”_ Hermann, facing the chalkboards, looking up at his work. 

“Do you wanna see the new bed?” 

_“Yes,”_ Hermann said after a pause.

The house had become dark now and Newt could see Hermann’s glow behind him as they walked down the corridor to Hermann’s old room. There was a candle on Hermann’s old writing desk. Hermann wafted over to the bed and circled around it slowly. He noticed his old, much smaller bed was pushed up to the other side of the room. 

“Do you hate it?”

_“No, not at all. it looks much more comfortable than my old bed.”_

Newton looked down. “Yeah.” 

_“Perhaps I should leave you to rest.”_

“Yeah I better get some shut-eye.”

_“I have some more work to do.”_

“Don’t stay up too late.” _  
_

Hermann smiled. _“I won’t.”_ When he floated past Newton, all too quickly, he passed through Newton’s arm. The man shivered and Hermann muttered that he was sorry.

“Hermann, can I ask you a question?”

Hermann paused in the doorway and Newt walked over to him. _“What sort of question.”_

“Kind of a personal one.”

_“I suppose so.”_

“Can I...well, you touch my hair every night, so you can touch me.”

_“Yes...”_

“So...does that mean I can touch you?”

_“Yes.”_

Newton nodded. “So...um,” he cleared his throat. “May I?”

_“You may.”_

Newton leaned forward, inch by inch. He stared into Hermann’s transparent, glowing eyes, this cold beautiful light that remained of a man he had come to know after the man’s death. Newton looked at his lips. Hermann looked back, observing Newt, this human being full of warmth and life. With aching slowness, their lips met, like a cold wind on sun-warmed skin. Newton took a sharp intake of breath at the sudden shock of coolness. He wanted to study the correlation between light and temperature but the sensation over-took him as their mouths mingled like autumn breezes in the dying sun. They parted. 

_“Newton.”_ Hermann’s eyes were closed as he floated in a trance. When he opened his eyes, Newton was looking at him with the greatest fondness he had ever seen. 

“When you’re done with your work, can you come back upstairs to play with my hair?”

_“With all my heart.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from [here](http://missanthropicprinciple.tumblr.com/post/101462894053/hmm-halloween-au-where-hermann-is-the-ghost-of-the-old).


End file.
